8 Literary Heroines: Sisters Doin' It For Themselves

Recently, a good friend and I discussed books we read and re-read growing up and noticed a common theme: Our lasting favorites featured strong female protagonists who often kicked some serious behind. After the fun I had writing about literature's desirable men and reading the heated debates in the comments, the time came to reminisce and cyber-bond over sassy leading ladies.

Soon after the publication of Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen wrote about Elizabeth Bennet:"I must confess that I think her as delightful a character as ever appeared in print, and how I shall be able to tolerate those who do not like her at least, I do not know.

I concur.

2. Helen Graham (from The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne BrontÃ«)

Often considered one of the first feminist novels, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall challenged the Victorian moral code through the character of Helen Graham. After falling for a handsome charmer who (after marriage) reveals his true character as an abusive scum-bucket, Helen decides to leave him, thereby saving herself and her young son. In a move unheard of during BrontÃ«'s time, Helen so much as slams a door in her husband's face, symbolically turning the tables on sexual politics. Despite Helen's murky circumstances, BrontÃ« portrays her positively, as a spirited and assertive heroine not intimidated by men and not afraid to ruffle a few Victorian petticoats.

Raise your hand if you still cry when Rontu dies. The ladies over at Jezebel have an awesome summary of this classic piece of young adult literature. Based on a true story, Karana's amazing tale begins when Aleuts wipe out her entire village by killing the men and taking away the women. After her brother is left behind, Karana chooses to stay, but soon another tragedy strikes when wild dogs kill him. Never once does Karana feel self-pity; she survives for eighteen years by herself on the island, figuring out how to make weapons, hunt for food, domesticate wild dogs, provide shelter, and protect herself from the island's many natural dangers. And while being forced out of her comfort zone to do things her tribe traditionally deemed "men's work" (and rocking at it!), Karana—still a girl at heart—sews herself some haute couture outfits out of feathers and seal pelts that I still envy.

4. Josephine "Jo" March (from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott)

Due to the many comments regarding Teddy's ostensible absence from my list of leading men, a quick explanation: I was tempted to deem Teddy swoon-worthy, but let us not forget that he marries whiny, burner-of-Jo's-manuscript Amy, an unforgivable act. Now, back to the eternal tomboy, Jo. Based on Alcott herself, Jo March is another ass-kicking, independent female lead who displays a caring heart on numerous occasions. Incredibly loving, she cuts and sells her hair (her "one beauty" according to Amy, natch) to purchase a train ticket for Marmie. Jo's bold character shines despite the many dire circumstances that fall upon her family. Although this independent streak leads to the refusal of Teddy—much to my chagrin (each time I read/watch that scene, I always hope she'll say yes)—it allows for single Jo to move to New York, become a writer, get swept away by a German professor, and eventually open a school for boys.

5. Jane Eyre (from Jane Eyre by Charlotte BrontÃ«)

Considered plain and unimportant from the get-go, Jane Eyre rises up as another feminist literary icon. Orphaned Jane never lets her societal position or gender determine her fate. Those BrontÃ« sisters were on to something! Jane's shyness and lack of resources don't hinder her from getting a sweet gig as a governess at Thornfield Hall, where her other awesome character traits (talented, caring, hard-working, honest to a fault) are revealed as she works for the deliciously dark Mr. Rochester. But as long as crazy Bertha lives, moral Jane cannot marry Rochester. Even though she gets a proper offer to be a missionary's wife, the role of a subordinate doesn't fly with Jane, and she follows her heart back to Thornfield.

Through Jane, BrontÃ« questioned Victorian stereotypes about women, saying:"Women...suffer from too rigid a restraint, too absolute a stagnation...and it is narrow-minded in their more privileged fellow-creatures to say that they ought to confine themselves to making puddings and knitting stockings, to playing on the piano and embroidering bags."

6. Scout Finch (from To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee)

Yes, even six-year-olds can be role models. Spunky and wise beyond her years, Scout Finch, the unpretentious narrator of Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, exhibits quiet strength and dignity and captures the innocence of youth. Scout beats up boys, sports overalls instead of dresses and swears "for the fun of it." She speaks her mind, but wants to learn from her father and the strong females who surround her. When her lawyer father defends a black man accused of raping a white woman, he receives so much flak that Scout wants to fight for his honor. Scout's bruises and missing teeth cannot hide her kind heart. She makes it okay to question authority and to always stand up for your beliefs, no matter what.

7. Hester Prynne (from The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne)

Public humiliation and forced isolation don't sound like much fun to me, but Hester Prynne proves that suffering can make you stronger. From the beginning, Hester's strength of character is evident. Forced to wear the infamous "A" because of a scandalous pregnancy, she is a survivor, always compassionate and honest, all the while defying convention and the harsh puritanical society that condemns her. Determined to stand alone, Hester never rats out the father of her child, and chooses banishment instead. Single motherhood? Check. Pissed-off Puritans? Check. Defiant to the core? Check.

"Which would you rather be if you had the choice—divinely beautiful or dazzlingly clever or angelically good?" Perhaps by default, our spunky, redheaded heroine, Anne-with-an-"e", chooses to be dazzlingly clever, indulging her wild imagination at every chance, which leads to her adventures and scrapes alike. She pursues education obsessively, excels (eventually) at her literary ambitions, and loves her friends and adoptive family deeply. Not without her faults, the always eloquent Anne opines, "It's so easy to be wicked without knowing it." She has to be reminded to "make time for romance" amongst her studies. And then of course there's Gil, whom Anne turns down at first due to her idealized notions of love, but eventually she realizes her mistake, making for a happy ending (and more books chronicling their life together). "It's delightful when your imaginations come true," says Anne, speaking for all the bookish girls who grew up wanting to write and—let's be honest—have Gilbert Blythe for our very own.

I know I admire more literary heroines than these, but once again, I showed great restraint in limiting myself. Keep the discussion going and promote strong female role models in literature!

In his 1845 memoir, A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, the famed abolitionist wrote that, “I have no accurate knowledge of my age, never having seen any authentic record containing it.” Later in life, Douglass—who was born into slavery in Maryland—chose February 14 as his official birthdate, with some historians speculating that he was born in 1818.

Douglass would, of course, go on to become one of the most powerful leaders of the anti-slavery movement, working as an advisor to Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War and later becoming the first African American citizen to hold a government position. In 1872, he was Victoria Woodhull’s running mate in her bid for the presidency (even though he never officially accepted or acknowledged the nomination). He was also a dazzling orator, as these 20 quotes prove.

1. ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PROGRESS AND STRUGGLE

“If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.”

2. ON THE UNIVERSALITY OF SORROW

“A smile or a tear has not nationality; joy and sorrow speak alike to all nations, and they, above all the confusion of tongues, proclaim the brotherhood of man.”

3. ON THE VALUE OF EDUCATION

“Some know the value of education by having it. I know its value by not having it."

4. ON THE DENIAL OF JUSTICE

“The American people have this to learn: that where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob, and degrade them, neither person nor property is safe.”

5. ON MEASURING INJUSTICE

“Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them.”

6. ON EMPOWERING YOUTH

“It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.”

7. ON MORAL GROWTH

“A battle lost or won is easily described, understood, and appreciated, but the moral growth of a great nation requires reflection, as well as observation, to appreciate it.”

8. ON THE SECURITY OF A NATION

“The life of a nation is secure only while the nation is honest, truthful, and virtuous.”

9. ON THE NEED FOR POWER

“It is not light that we need, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.”

10. ON FREE SPEECH

“To suppress free speech is a double wrong. It violates the rights of the hearer as well as those of the speaker.”

11. ON REBELLION

“The thing worse than rebellion is the thing that causes rebellion.”

12. ON THE CONSEQUENCE OF SLAVERY

“No man can put a chain about the ankle of his fellow man without at last finding the other end fastened about his own neck.”

13. ON RIGHT VERSUS WRONG

“I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong.”

14. ON WORKING FOR WHAT YOU GET

“People might not get all they work for in this world, but they must certainly work for all they get.”

15. ON THE POWER OF KNOWLEDGE

“Knowledge makes a man unfit to be a slave.”

16. ON THE NECESSITY OF IRONY

“At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed.”

17. ON REMAINING TRUE TO ONESELF

“I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence.”

18. ON THE IMPENETRABILITY OF ONE’S SOUL

“The soul that is within me no man can degrade.”

19. ON THE COLOR OF ONE’S CHARACTER

“A man's character always takes its hue, more or less, from the form and color of things about him.”

20. ON USING THE PAST TO MAKE A BETTER FUTURE

“We have to do with the past only as we can make it useful to the present and the future.”

A tale of love and loss, sisterhood and trauma, Sue Monk Kidd's 2002 novel The Secret Life of Bees has won the hearts of millions of readers around the world. But few know the full truth behind this inspirational novel.

1. THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES IS A BILDUNGSROMAN.

A bildungsroman is a novel that charts the moral or psychological growth of its protagonist. It's also known as a coming-of-age story. In this case, Kidd's novel follows the journey of its narrator, a 14-year-old girl named Lily Melissa Owens. After escaping her abusive father T. Ray, Lily finds solace with the beekeeping Boatwright sisters, and confronts the terrible truth about her mother's death.

2. THE NOVEL TACKLES RACE RELATIONS IN THE 1960S.

Set in South Carolina during the civil rights movement, The Secret Life of Bees presents examples of overt racism. In one scene, a trio of white men harasses Lily's mother-figure Rosaleen Daise, who is black. At the same time, the novel challenges pernicious racial stereotypes. Before meeting the Boatwrights, Lily, who is white, assumes all black women are uneducated laborers or maids like Rosaleen. Through her time with the sisters, who are accomplished business owners, the novel's heroine recognizes her own prejudices, and grows to realize her ignorance.

3. ASPECTS OF LILY'S CHILDHOOD MIRRORED KIDD'S OWN.

Upon the novel's 10th anniversary, Kidd offered a long list of autobiographical elements that can be found within The Secret Life of Bees. "Both Lily and I were adolescents during the summer of 1964, and like Lily, I was powerfully affected by the passage of the Civil Rights Act and the racial unrest that fomented during those hot, volatile months," she wrote on her website. "I, too, had an African-American caretaker. I, too, wanted to be a writer ... Lily and I created fallout shelter models for our 7th-grade science projects and wrote papers called 'My Philosophy of Life' before either of us were old enough to have a philosophy." Kidd clarifies, however, that she did not lose her mother when she was a child and her father was "nothing like T. Ray."

4. KIDD VISITED HONEYHOUSES AND BEEHIVES WHEN SHE WAS WRITING THE NOVEL.

"Some of those scenes where Lily is experiencing that rush of feeling and emotion when the bees come swirling out of their hives, I could never have gotten that from a book," the author told BookPage. "The fear and delight of all that and the sounds of it … the way your feet stick to the floor in a honeyhouse … the senses are alive in all of that experience."

5. BEES WERE A BIG PART OF KIDD'S CHILDHOOD.

In one way, Kidd lived in a honeyhouse of her own. "When I was growing up, bees lived inside a wall of our house, an entire hive-full of them—that is to say, 50,000 or so. They lived with us, not for a summer or two, but for 18 years," Kidd wrote on her website. "The room vibrated with bee hum. At times, the whole house seemed to hum. I remember my mother cleaning up the honey that leaked from the cracks and made tiny puddles on the floor. Being a good Southern family, we normalized the situation and went on with our lives."

6. THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES WAS KIDD'S FIRST NOVEL, BUT NOT HER FIRST BOOK.

7. THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES HAS A SPIRITUAL CONNECTION TO KIDD'S EARLIER BOOKS.

The novel includes Christian iconography, notably the Black Madonna that adorns the Boatwrights' honey jars. Its coming-of-age plot also touches on spiritual awakening. As Kidd said in the 2002 interview with BookPage, "I think of it as something deeper and more profound happening to [Lily] at the level of soul, and I wanted her to have a real transformation and a real awakening … to this other realm."

8. THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES'S MEMORABLE MARY FIGUREHEAD WAS BASED ON A REAL ONE IN A MUSEUM.

In the novel, a religious service is held before a statue called Black Mary or Our Lady of Chains, which is the figurehead of a ship that carries a great significance to the Daughters of Mary, a group of women who follow a religion invented by August Boatwright. Kidd had seen a similar figurehead while visiting a Trappist monastery in South Carolina. "The day that I discovered her," Kidd said, "I was totally captivated by … the powerful imagery of this [figurehead] Mary that was surfacing from the deep, washing up from the deep, onto the shores of consciousness, so to speak."

9. THE BOATWRIGHT SISTERS REPRESENT A CELEBRATION OF FEMALE FRIENDSHIP AND SORORITY.

On her website, Kidd tells the story of how she came up with the Boatwright sisters' characters and setting. She had woken up in the middle of the night thinking about where Rosaleen and Lily were going to end up after escaping T. Ray. She picked up a selection of photos that she had hoped would spark creativity. "My eyes wandered back and forth between pictures of three African-American women, an uproariously pink house, a cloud of bees, and a black Mary, and suddenly, it fell in one unbroken piece into my head," she wrote. "My two runaways would escape to the home of three black sisters, who live in a pink house, keep bees, and revere a black Mary. This sudden revelation may have happened in part because down deep I wanted a way to write about the strength, wisdom, and bonds of women."

10. KIDD WAS INSPIRED BY TWO CLASSICS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE.

The Secret Life of Bees won applause for its insightful look into the inner lives of its female characters. It may be no surprise that its author says reading the groundbreaking feminist novel The Awakening by Kate Chopin, published in 1899, made a big impact on her. Kidd also cites Henry David Thoreau's Walden, the 1854 transcendentalist treatise on simplicity and self-reliance. When she read each book, Kidd told Scholastic, "I would say they were turning points in my life, but also I can look back and say they affected me deeply as a writer."

11. THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES WAS A RUNAWAY HIT.

The novel spent more than two-and-a-half years on The New York Times bestseller list and more than 8 million copies of the book have been sold worldwide. It has also been translated into 36 languages.

12. THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES ALSO EARNED CRITICAL ACCLAIM.

Many reviewers praised Kidd's beautifully rendered characters and setting. "Lily is a wonderfully petulant and self-absorbed adolescent, and Kidd deftly portrays her sense of injustice as it expands to accommodate broader social evils," The New York Times Book Reviewwrote. "August and her sisters, June and May, are no mere vehicles for Lily's salvation; they are individuals as fully imagined as the sweltering, kudzu-carpeted landscape that surrounds them."

In deeming the novel "buzz-worthy," Peoplewrote, "populated with rich, believable characters and propelled by a swiftly paced plot, this debut novel is a cut above most coming-of-age tales."

The Secret Life of Bees was longlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction (now the Women's Prize for Fiction) in 2002, and won the American Booksellers Association's Book Sense Paperback of the Year award in 2004.

13. THE NOVEL WAS MADE INTO A STAR-STUDDED MOVIE.

Gina Prince-Bythewood, who wrote and directed Love & Basketball and other features, adaptedThe Secret Life Of Bees into a period drama. The cast included Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson, Oscar nominees Queen Latifah and Sophie Okonedo, multiple Grammy winner Alicia Keys, and Dakota Fanning as Lily.

Kidd visited the film set in a tiny North Carolina town and marveled at how every detail of the production was just as she had imagined it. But months later, when she sat down in the movie theater to watch the film for the first time, she felt nervous. "I had no idea what I would see. I’d glibly said that handing over my novel to Hollywood had seemed like leaping out of an airplane, but sitting there waiting for the film to begin, it really did seem that way," Kidd wrote on her website. "The parachute opened, thankfully, and the whole thing floated rather nicely to earth."

14. THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES HAS BEEN ADAPTED INTO A STAGE MUSICAL.

As part of Vassar College's Powerhouse Theater's summer season in 2017, the college and New York Stage and Film presented a workshop production of The Secret Life of Bees as a musical, which starred Orange is the New Black standout Uzo Aduba in the role of Rosaleen. The show featured music from Tony winner Duncan Sheik and a book by Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage.

15. KIDD REALIZED THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES WAS BIG WHEN IT WAS FEATURED ON JEOPARDY!.

Under the category "Women Writers," the long-running quiz show offered this answer: “Sue Monk Kidd’s debut novel is about these insects.” Kidd recalled that moment on her website: "I blinked at the television. Finally, I came to life and shouted, 'What are bees?' Fortunately, the contestant did not need my help."